Learn the top five phrases teachers want to hear
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| JP: Our favorite expressions. Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the 15th and final edition of All About Spanish. My name is JP, I’m here with Fernando. Hola Fernando. |
| Fernando: Hola JP. Sorry to hear that it’s the last one. |
| JP: It’s alright because we’re going to be making many more products. |
| Fernando: True. |
| JP: But today I want to talk about our favorite expressions. Now, Fernando, you’re going to give us your three favorite expressions right? |
| Fernando: Right and I’m hoping you’ll chime in with a couple of your favorite expressions. |
| JP: Well I hope so and so by the end of it we’re going to have five good ones. Ok, so let’s get right to it. What have you got first, Fernando? |
| Fernando: Chido. |
| JP: Chido. |
| Fernando: Chido basically means, that’s cool. |
| JP: Ok, so chido is a word for cool. So if you want to say “Oh, how cool” |
| Fernando: Que chido |
| JP: Que chido |
| Fernando: Yes |
| JP: And this is a Mexican word, right? |
| Fernando: It is a Mexican word. And all of the phrases I will be saying are going to be Mexican |
| JP: Well, you’re Mexican, right? |
| Fernando: I’m Mexican. |
| JP: You know what, my favorite phrases are Mexican too. I just think Mexican slang is funnier. |
| Fernando: It’s much more colorful, definitely. |
| JP: Yeah, so que chido. |
| Fernando: Que chido. Yeah, and you can use it to accentuate a cool thing. Like, that’s really cool, you can say que chido, super chido. |
| JP: Super chido. |
| Fernando: Yes, or if someone asks you how’d you do on your exam, you know I did good. ¿Cómo te fue en tu examen? Chido, yo fue chido. So there are a variety of ways you can use chido. That’s not chido, no está chido, that’s not cool, it’s not good. You know, what you did is not cool, lo que hiciste no está chido |
| JP: Ok, that’s not ok. |
| Fernando: That’s not ok, right. |
| JP: Alright, so the first one is chido. What’s your second one? Another Mexican one, right? |
| Fernando: Yes, this is a little more colorful. Te la pelaste. |
| JP: Te la pelaste. Ok, so literally this is, you got peeled. |
| Fernando: You got peeled |
| JP: Like you got your skin taken off. |
| Fernando: Kind of. |
| JP: So what’s the figurative meaning? |
| Fernando: Figurative is, you got screwed. |
| JP: You got screwed, te la pelaste. |
| Fernando: Te la pelaste. And you’ll use this more casually among friends. Alright, here’s a situation. You’re at a bar with your friend and you want to go up to a girl and start a conversation. You go up there, and nothing happens, or she brushes you off. You come back to your friend, and your friend is going to say ¨te la pelaste.” So it’s not necessarily “you got screwed.” |
| JP: It’s not like you got a raw deal. |
| Fernando: No, it’s not a raw deal, but you… you didn’t get it this time. So you can use it that way, or many other ways to use “pelaste.” Or pelar. Te la pelaste. It’s a lot of fun to use; it is very colorful. |
| JP: So I see you using that when you’re teasing your friends a lot. |
| Fernando: You’re teasing your friends, or you can be self-deprecating, and say “Me la pelé.” |
| JP: Oh, I got the shaft. |
| Fernando: I got the shaft, exactly. That’s a perfect example in English. I got the shaft, you didn’t get the job, you didn’t make it onto the team… “me la pelé.” |
| JP: Me la pelé. Ok, what’s your third expression? |
| Fernando: Third, now this is pretty tough, because I have plenty of colorful expressions… “a toda madre.” |
| JP: A toda madre. ATM, means like, full out, or flat out, or full speed… something like that. it´s like extreme! |
| Fernando: ¡A toda madre! That’s so cool, that’s so great, that’s so awesome! And then, we have the word “mother” in there… |
| JP: Ok, now, Mexicans are famous for using this word, ¿no? Madre. |
| Fernando: No madre, no tienes madre, a toda madre… there are plenty of madre expressions. It’s because she’s a staple in our society. |
| JP: That’s right, she´s very important. |
| Fernando: So a toda madre is very… it’s a positive expression. It’s very… you could say “vamos a toda madre” |
| JP: Ok, vamos a toda madre, what does this mean? |
| Fernando: Vamos a toda madre could entail going on a road trip, and it’s you and three other people, and you’re all great, you’re all experiencing this great roadtrip, listening to music, stopping to sight see, checking out the random stores on the highway…. |
| JP: Ok, so a toda madre is like coolness, Buena onda. |
| Fernando: Buena onda, vamos a toda madre, yah we’re awesome, we’re all good. |
| JP: well, that’s a great expression. |
| Fernando: and it’s accepted everywhere. It’s kind of like the visa card for Mexican expressions, it’s accepted everywhere. |
| JP: Cool. |
| Fernando: So JP, what are your two favorite expressions? |
| JP: Ok, well you know what, I have been spending a lot of time with Mexicans lately, so I have a couple of Mexican expressions. One of them I think is really fun, is ¿Sale? ¡Sale! Now sale is an expression you use when you’re on the phone with somebody and you’re making plans. You’ve agreed on a time, you agreed on a place to meet, so everything’s cool, right? ¿Sale? and then the answer is ¡sale! |
| Fernando: So we’re good? Yes? Sale. And you can use it, not only on the phone, you can use it in person… are you ready to go? Sale. Sale. That’s pretty cool, that’s one I use constantly. |
| JP: Now literally, it doesn’t work very well… salir usually means “to go out.” But as an expression is like ok? ok. Cool? Cool. We’re cool? ¿Sale? ¡Sale! |
| Fernando: Giving it a west coast accent, like you just did, giving it that surfer vibe, cool? cool. That helps with how you use sale. What’s the other one? |
| JP: Oh, my other favorite expression in Spanish is neta! |
| Fernando: Living in Mexico for the first time I did not know what it meant, so I had to really pay attention to what they were saying, the context and everything. Once I got the hang of it, I could not stop saying it. |
| JP: Neta. It’s like “for real!” |
| Fernando: And it’s also, like, “Es la neta” |
| JP: Es la neta… when you say it like that, it’s like “That’s the truth.” Now I’m making a fist, I’m kind of pumping a fist… That’s the truth! |
| Fernando: Right on! Yes. Solid! Solid is a good one. I’m using a lot of West Coast words here. Solid. |
| JP: Yah, our Australian listeners might be a little puzzled, but don’t worry, you’ll figure it out. Ok, before we go, let’s give a quick summary of our favorite expressions. What were yours? |
| Fernando: Chido, means cool; te la pelaste… you got the shaft. And a toda madre. |
| JP: everything’s good. And my two were ¿sale? ¡sale!... cool? cool. And then neta… meaning… |
| Fernando: Solid. |
| JP: Alright folks, I hope you enjoyed this All About Spanish lesson number 15, as well as our entire series All About Spanish. Right now, it’s time for us to go, so hasta luego, Fernando. |
| Fernando: Hasta luego. |
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